A Taste For Puppies
by Phoenix on cloud nine
Summary: In which an escalator tries to eat Mike.


**A/N Hi guys! So, this is another of _p__hreakycat'_s AMAZING prompts that I just couldn't resist :3 Please tell me what you think :)**

**Oh, and anyone with a phobia of escalators might want to leave this story. Just sayin' ;)**

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><p>"No, wait, Harvey - !" Mike sighed in frustration as the car sped away, leaving him gasping for his breath on the sidewalk outside Pearson Hardman. He knew Harvey had seen him - it was hard to miss a scrawny kid biking down this street, dodging in and out of crowds of smartly-dressed people. Mike saw him look at his watch and back up before he got in the car, just as he skidded to a halt outside the law firm.<p>

He checked his watch. Sure, he was 10 minutes late, but he had been later than that and Harvey had never left without him before. Well... there was that one time at the car club - but Mike was certain that was because Harvey didn't want anyone else in the car he had hired. Maybe.

He clambered back onto his bike, not pausing to draw breath as he pushed off, once again looping around confused business people. His lungs seemed to be on fire but he pushed himself, and found that he could just keep an eye on Harvey's car if he kept up the speed. He darted through a few intersections in a way that had his Gram seen; would probably have given her a heart attack but was a competent cyclist; he knew the roads well.

Sure enough, he arrived at their destination unscathed, skidding to a halt just as he saw Harvey enter the large building through some revolving doors. He grinned sheepishly at Ray who was about to get back into the car, and abandoned his bike, quickly throwing the lock around it and attaching it to a bollard outside.

"Wait, Harvey!" Mike was breathing hard, drenched in sweat as he attempted to keep up with the older man, who was looking at him scathingly whilst he was about to ascend an escalator.

"Glad you could make it," Harvey drawled, giving him a piercing glare.

"I was just behind you!" Mike gasped, clutching at a stitch in his side.

"You realise that if we miss this meeting we can kiss this client goodbye?" Harvey informed him, letting an elderly couple step ahead of him to get onto the steps first.

"I'm sorry, alright?" Mike snapped, still breathing heavily. "Can we go?"

"Punctuality is everything, Mike," Harvey told him as they stepped onto the escalator.

"I thought that was appearance," Mike huffed, throwing himself onto the step to sit in order to get his breath back.

"They're two sides of the same coin - will you get up?" Harvey hissed. "You're getting a perfectly good - well; a halfway decent suit crumpled!"

"So?" Mike muttered, hunching forward slightly.

"So you _do _realise you're sat on the floor?" Harvey bit back. Mike just glowered at him. "What are you, five?" Harvey said, throwing his hands into the air in frustration. "Get up - now. You're creasing your suit. And haven't you ever heard those cautionary tales about escalators eating kids? For all we know, it has a taste for puppies as well and I don't want to break in a new associate."

Mike glowered at him, annoyed at the dig to his apparent 'puppy' status. However, he gave a sigh and attempted to stand as they approached the top.

Wait.

Attempted?

Mike looked down in horror as he found that the hem of his suit trousers was caught in the step. He couldn't pull his foot away. He managed to get onto one knee, but his other foot was well and truly stuck, staying in the awkward position he had been sat in. "Harvey, I'm stuck!" He hissed desperately.

Harvey turned and gave him a look of disdain. "I don't need you messing around, Mike - stand up and let's go."

"No, seriously, Harvey," Mike's eyes were wide and frightened. "I can't get my foot off!" They approached the top of the escalator and Harvey stepped off smartly, only turning when he heard a gasp of pain.

"Oh come on!" He said, throwing his arms up. "Are you telling me that you _actually _got your clothes trapped in the escalator?"

"That would be about the size of it," Mike whimpered. He attempted to yank at his trousers, pulling at the hem and yelping as the skin of his fingers kept getting caught at the small, toothy opening near the top. "I can't get them out," his panicked voice suddenly made Harvey take it a whole lot more seriously.

"Calm down, kid," he said, kneeling by the top. He too attempted to pull the hem but like Mike, found that he couldn't. "Why the hell did I make you go to Rene?" Harvey questioned, trying and failing to rip the pants.

"It's getting really tight," Mike said in a strangled voice, squeezing his eyes shut in pain as the hem went from bunching up to wrapping around his ankle, trying to pull his foot through the miniature gap. "Shit, this hurts - can't you do something?" He said to Harvey desperately, still tugging at the hem. He cried out as the teeth of the escalator started to gouge into his flesh, leaving blood spots on the steps.

"I don't know what you want me to do," Harvey snapped. He wouldn't admit to panicking, but he was incredibly flustered at this point.

"Do something!" Mike yelled at him as more skin peeled off his ankle. "Gah!"

Suddenly, a spine-chilling snapping sound echoed and both men went silent. One went bright white and the other a shade paler than his normal pallor. "Mike," Harvey said hesitantly. "Was that your...?"

Mike's eyes were squeezed tightly together, tears seeping underneath his eyelids as he tried to muffle his cry of pain. He couldn't help it, and let out a scream. "Shit, shit, shit - my ankle, god it hurts - Harvey, my ankle, it snapped, it hurts - what do we do?" His breath sped up and he looked clammy, his skin staying the sickly pale colour. "I can't - I can't," he tried to pull on his pants, he grabbed and ignored the skin being ripped off his fingers but couldn't pull it.

"Calm down, kid," Harvey said, pretending that both his hands and voice were steady. "Just calm down - panicking isn't going to help."

"Do something!" Mike begged, grabbing at Harvey's hands. "Please, Harvey! I know you can fix things - please do something!"

"I'm trying, Mike," Harvey tried to reassure him. looking round - why was there no one in their vicinity? There was no one in the lobby, and no one at the reception desk.

"Please, Harvey!" He pleaded, not even trying to keep the howl out of his voice. "Get me out of here! Do something! _Please_!"

"I will, Mike," Harvey told him, not taking his hands away from Mike's. "I promise, just - " Mike let out another pained scream and Harvey started panicked in a way he would probably be able to bring himself to admit. He quickly took out his phone, calling the emergency services. "Hello? Yes, I need an ambulance - my associate has his ankle stuck on the escalator... No, I'm serious - it's broken his ankle; we need someone here now! He's losing blood! What? No, there isn't... on the - ?" Harvey looked around, trying to comfort Mike by running his thumb absent-mindedly over Mike's hand as he gazed around. "A small red...? Yeah?" Harvey yanked his hands away to hit a red button cleverly tucked away underneath the bannister.

The escalator stopped moving, relieving the pressure somewhat on Mike's ankle. The younger man let out a pained sob of relief and Harvey found himself calming too. "Yeah," he said to the person on the other end of the phone. "Yeah, it stopped - are they on their way? Good."

He hung up, focussing completely on Mike.

"Mike? Kid? You alright?" He looked down at the swollen, twisted, bloody ankle and grimaced. The escalator had literally tried to eat him.

"How... bad... is it?" Mike grunted, indentations in his palms from where he had dug his fingernails in.

"Well you might never do ballet again," Harvey said, working on the hem slowly. He shook his head. "This isn't going to work," he looked around and spotted something. "Mike - stay here."

"You're _so _funny," Mike shouted to his retreating back. He tried to pull away when he saw Harvey coming back with a fire axe in hand, which only served to make him more uncomfortable.

"Mike," Harvey said, kneeling once more and looking into Mike's eyes. "Do you trust me?"

"What kind of a question is that?"

"Do. You. Trust me?" Harvey repeated. Mike nodded, his breath still hitching. Harvey nodded at him and swung the axe down on the trouser hem. He let out a satisfied breath as the material split and Mike's foot started to slide away from the gap. "Woah!" Harvey gasped, reaching out to grab Mike as the kid just started to fall backwards slightly.

Now that he was free and the adrenaline was going; the shock started to set in. He looked at the open wound, still oozing blood. "Mike," the younger man looked up solemnly with dazed eyes as Harvey started to take off the younger man's tie.

"What are you - ?"

"What? I'm not using my own!" He worked Mike's tie off from around his neck and pulled the knot out, before looking into his associate's eyes. "Kid - this is going to hurt."

"What - ?"

"I need to keep pressure on this, got it?"

Mike made a somewhat muted sound of pain, but nodded. "Yeah," Harvey tried not to make fun of the way his voice went higher. "Okay." With that, Harvey pulled the tie around the broken limb and tied it around the bloody wound, wincing as Mike gave a gasp of pain. "When do I get the drugs?"

"As soon as the medics arrive, I'll get you the best legal pain medication they have to offer," Harvey promised, tightening the tie and leaning forward as he put pressure on it with his hands as well. "I told you not to sit down," he grumbled.

"You didn't need to order the escalator to eat me!" Mike said between breaths; his breathing was still shallow and pained.

Harvey managed to give him a small smile. "Maybe if you listened to me once in a while - what has this taught you?"

"Don't be late," Mike muttered, letting his head flop tiredly onto Harvey's shoulder as the older lawyer kept pressure on the ankle. "This sucks."

"I know," Harvey said sympathetically. "Don't worry - I can hear sirens."

"Usually that's when you're supposed to start to worry," Mike mumbled, giving another small yelp as Harvey applied more pressure.

"Only if you aren't a law abiding citizen," Harvey told him, rolling his eyes just as the medics quickly ascended the escalator. Harvey was pushed aside in favour of his injured associate and stood up, stretching his back and knees. The medics had quickly surrounded Mike and were applying the pressure that Harvey had been applying and slowly pushing the trouser leg up to see the damage.

"Harvey?" He heard the weak but panicked voice of his associate and came further towards the group. "Harvey!" That was definitely a pained shout. A hand shot out from the group, desperately groping at air, hoping to find...

Harvey smoothly clasped the hand with his own. "Calm down, kid," he said - trying to give his voice a gruff quality but not quite managing it.

"Guess escalators really do like puppies, huh?" Came Mike's voice from the group, coming in gasps and murmurs.

Harvey laughed and fondly squeezed the hand. "I guess they do."

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><p><strong>AN So, yeah - much shorter than most of my oneshots or even chapters but I hope you enjoyed - thanks again to _phreakycat _for the magnificent prompt; I hope this is sort of what you wanted :) Also, I apologise if at any point the word 'escalator' is 'elevator' - I kept getting confused XD**


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